Room to work for Sen. Campbell’s GOP challenger

State Sen. Donna Campbell’s campaign released a poll Tuesday that showed her with a strong lead over her primary challenger Mike Novak, but also indicated she has lost 15 percent of voters from the same pool who elected her last year over seven-term incumbent Sen. Jeff Wentworth.

Novak, a lifelong San Antonio businessman and former Bexar County Commissioner, announced his candidacy – and a supporting coalition of elected Republicans – last month in an interview with the Express-News.

Some key numbers from the poll, which was funded by Campbell, a tea party conservative:

In a primary election between Campbell and Novak, 51 percent said they would vote for Campbell and 11 percent chose Novak, while 38 percent are undecided. Analysis: Campbell won last year’s primary runoff against Wentworth with 66 percent of the vote, indicating she has dropped in support, according to her own poll numbers. The large number of undecided voters, 38 percent, leaves Novak, or any challenger, room to work to usurp votes.

Campbell had a favorable rating from 56 percent and an unfavorable from 15 percent of those polled, while 6 percent had a favorable opinion of Novak and 2 percent view him as unfavorable. Analysis: More than half of the GOP primary electorate had a positive opinion of Campbell’s work. These numbers are strong for Campbell, but not game-ending for a challenger.

Name ID: 86 percent of respondents said they recognize Campbell’s name, while 25 percent said they know Novak. Analysis: No surprise the incumbent has high name recognition, but a quarter is a high percentage for someone who has been out of office (Bexar County Commissioners Court) since 1998.

The poll was conducted by a national pollster, Wilson Perkins Allen, September 10-11, 2013, and used a “sample size of 300 likely Republican primary voters in Texas’ 25th Senate District.” Read the full poll here.

“You have to consider the source of the poll, which is Donna Campbell,” Novak said. “The Campbell campaign wouldn’t have released these numbers unless they are having trouble raising resources and they feel threatened.”